“Pull girl, pull!” The old drunkard encourages.

Nia jerks her rod backward, standing up to better support herself. Her stance now allowing for considerably more force behind her pulling.

We huddle closer and grab onto Nia and the rod holding firm against the fish.

“That must be quite the catch, at least your weight, little girl. Hahaha.” Why can’t this man be helpful at least a bit? I’m sure he could yank that fish out of the water no problem.

Nia clings onto the rod with all her strength, the other four of us throwing our weight behind her in a desperate bid to overpower the chunky fish.

“Don’t let go!” Frans shouts like we’d otherwise do so on our own.

“Mind giving us a hand?” I ask the drunkard still passively observing us from the sidelines.

“Can’t, my hands are full,“ He shakes his bottle desmonstratingly. “but I can encourage. Pull harder! Tire it out! You can do this!” He hollers.

And so the tug of war goes on for what feels like minutes, whereas in reality, it couldn’t have been more than… actually it might’ve been a minute.

We can’t lift the fish onto the pier so we drag it in the water all the way to the shore, where it’s finally yanked onto the sandy beach. The damned thing is only the size of a medium dog, which is kinda disappointing.

“We’ve done it.” A round of high-fives follows. “Nice catch Nia; what are you going to do with it?” Connie asks.

“Kids, you don’t happen to have a fishing permit do you?” The same drunkard asks.

Has he been following us all the way? And wait, what’s a fishing permit? We shake our heads in unison.

“Eh, wasn't hard to guess.” He scratches his balding head. “Okay, let’s say I caught the fish and gifted it to you if the guards ever ask.”

“Really? Thanks. But what's your name? And why help us?” Nia crouches down beside her trophy.

“Hehe, you were good entertainment and that’s more than enough for payment. It was nice to see some youthful energy. I’m Zeno by the way. Be careful on the way home, kids.” He waves and stumbles away.

Turns out that talking with the drunkard had its merits. What a nice old man, and I’m not saying this just because he helped us; nope not at all.

“So, how are we gonna move this thing?” Nia asks and just then the fish thrashes around.

“Damn, it's still alive.” Brilliant observation Frans. “I’ve heard about this before. We need to use something heavy and bonk it on the head.”

That might work, however, I doubt any of us would volunteer for the job, so I improvise again.

“Hey mister,” I call out to a young sailor. “Could you help with this thing? It moves too much.”

I’m not openly asking him to kill the fish, just implying. The guy walks over and inspects our problem.

“You caught this?” We nod. “And your license?”

“I mean… Zeno caught it, the old dude, and decided to give it to us.” Jappo quickly corrects the collective mistake.

“Uhum, well if you’re asking me to kill it, sure.” he pulls out a knife and stabs it into the poor fish’s head. “There you go.” Then walks away.

Helpful indeed but is that really how you’re supposed to do it?

“Okay, you guys help me get this home? I’ll be sure to invite you to dinner.” Nia offers.

We’re quick to accept the free meal for some fun work. Fun, not easy.

The fish is slippery with little to no grip on it. We try pushing it and again our control over the hefty slippery body Is zero. How to go about it?

“Okay guy, link your hands beneath its body and I’ll help with the head.” Nia says.

Whatever she's cooked up is worth a try. The task is a bit disgusting, very disgusting; yet we still proceed.

“Now lift!”

And we manage to heave the, compared to its size, surprisingly heavy body above the ground.

“Now on your shoulders!” The next instruction comes.

We place it on our shoulder supporting the body with our hands. Nia is in front helping out with the head as it's heavier than the tail.

“To the park, carefully.” She says and we begin to move, step by measured step.

***

We follow roughly the same way back as we came, to avoid the crowd and any guards as they are a hassle to deal with, bar dad. Progress is slow and we have to stop multiple times along the way when we get tired. Our clothes are soaked with sweat and fish slime which encourages us to walk faster, get home faster and change clothes faster.

“Dad!” Nia shouts when we arrive at the park.

Her dad has fallen asleep; the peak of performance in the realm of parenting. I can’t blame him that much. Bored out of his mind, yet forced to do nothing, I too would take a nap.

“Wha? Oh, Nia did you have… fun?” He cocks his head at the sight of our haul. “You kids are ridiculous. How did you even get that?” He walks over to where we threw the fish down. It's damn heavy.

“You won’t believe it.” Nia jumps in for a hug, swiftly stopped by a hand and a pointed look at her clothes. “I caught it. Don’t tell mom, we-”

“Dear, everyone knows you’re sneaking away when in the park. We’ve done the same as kids. Except maybe Jappo’s parents, keep this secret from them.” Nia’s old man enlightens us.

A case of literary theft: this tale is not rightfully on Amazon; if you see it, report the violation.

No way, mom and dad knew? This makes things a lot easier really…

“Okay… wow. So Eli had the idea to go to the docks and try fishing. We made makeshift tools and sat down on the pier. It was re~ally boring, then this one swallowed the bait and we pulled it out together. They even helped me get my fish back here. Can we invite them when mom cooks it?” Nia asks using puppy eyes after telling the whole story with a single breath.

The likely decades if not centuries-old man, as elves usually are, swiftly processes the information.

“That does sound like fun. Sure they can come over. I’ve also overheard the little talk you had about the future and your approaching System unlocks.” He picks up the fish with a single hand at its tail. “You know, I’m kind of a teacher myself, would you like me to explain the basics?” He asks.

“Heck yeah!” “Yes please.” “Sure.” “Yes yes”

We all answer vehemently. Food and some useful stories? Sign me up.

“Good. Now go home and I’ll see you all at our house for dinner, alright? Good luck explaining your clothes to your parents. Your mother won't be pleased either Nia, some washing duty awaits.” He lightly reprimands his daughter, if this could be counted as such.

Our excitement is killed with a simple reminder.

“I’m a bit scared of going home now.” Frans whispers.

We all are.

***

“Mom, dad?” I test the waters, please let it be just dad.

“Yes, sweetie?” Comes the familiar female voice.

Gods why? Why can't it be dad to help me cover-up?

“Uhhhhh, we… we had a lot of fun today and Nia invited me over for dinner.” I start slow.

“Oh, that’s wonderful.”

“Yeah, and uhhh…” I hesitate, a fatal mistake.

A few swift footsteps and a surprised gasp.

“Elyssia!” Here it comes. “What did I tell you about clothes? I haven’t seen you this dirty since the mud bath nonsense and this time you even smell like dead fish.” She puts her hand on her hips and taps her foot.

Cute eyes, a remorseful stance, a weak voice, exciting story. C’mon Eli, you can do it!

“So… since you already know we usually sneak away in the park.” I start.

“Which is a different topic and punishment on its own.” She adds.

No way, bad start.

“Okay.” I lower my head. “We had the idea to play around the docks today.” I continue.

“A place you should avoid! It’s full of dangerous people.” She interrupts again and I can already feel the amount of upcoming chores weighing down on my shoulder.

“They were friendly, it wasn’t dangerous at all.” I counter.

“Don’t sass me, young lady, you're in enough trouble as it is!”

“Yes ma'am. So we tried fishing and made some fishing rods. It was a bit boring for a while, then Nia had hooked a fish.” Some of mom’s fury turns to curiosity. “The five of us pulled it ashore and…”

***

The rest of the story goes smoothly, with no interruptions. The mix of her worry and motherly ire lessens towards the end thanks to my expert acting and storytelling.

“You were lucky to come across a friendly drunkard. Zeno huh?” She digests the information. “You know what awaits don’t you?”

“Yeah, laundry duty…” I try to cooperate.

“Three days.” She adds.

“Three days?!?” I can’t believe it, no way.

“Four.”

“Mom, that’s not fair!” I protest.

“Five.” She keeps on going, eyebrows rising along the number.

I shut up. I know my odds, they’re bad, like… non-existent. Talking back has never worked and yet still, it's hard to stop myself.

The head of the household approves with a victorious smile.

“Now go, change and wash yourself.” She waves me off. “You have places to be tonight after all.”

I know when I’m let off the hook. This is not one of those times, the punishment is just delayed. I quickly run over to the bathtub, only to find it empty.

“Can this day be any worse?” I whine, quickly forgetting the fun up until now.

***

Dad is accompanying me to Nia’s house.

That bath, even after having to haul buckets of water for it, was heavenly, washing off the slime… Good stuff.

“Behave, okay Eli?” Dad asks before passing me off.

“I just have to act like myself and everything will be fine.” I reply proudly.

“That’s what I’m afraid of.” He mutters. “Have a good one sweetie, I’ll pick you up in the morning.”

“I heard that dad.”

I knock and soon after I’m invited inside, the third to arrive after the twins. The smell of grilled fish is already wafting in the air, making my mouth water.

I’ve been to Nia’s before and met her parents plenty of times, they’re good friends with mom and dad. Turns out Nia’s mother was a lot less grumpy about today's adventure. How unfair.

Jappo arrives soon after and we just chat until dinner is ready. The food is heavenly. Sorry mom this tops anything you can make, time and practice work wonders. Also shame on you dad for lacking despite being an elf yourself.

The fish is plenty big for all of us to eat till we’re bloated after which Nia’s dad takes the spotlight.

“So kids, I’ve heard some of you have ambitious plans for the future. Others,” He glances at me and Nia. “have no concrete idea in mind. Let me give you the basics to work with.”

Nothing useful has left his mouth just yet and still, we’re hanging onto his words as if they were the orders of the emperor himself.

“As you might know by now, the Journey Guide is present in every living being’s life as long as they’re smart or strong enough. Trees and bugs are usually exempt, although there have been plenty of cases where even those weak and helpless beings attained the gift of guidance.”

The first part of the lesson is about what mom explained to me at the market. Classes, professions, what their roles are and what you can expect from them.

Calen, as it turns out Nia’s dad is called, also talked about different rarities and the potential difference between classes. I’ve known their daughter for many years now but never took the time to learn her parents’ names. It would be really embarrassing to ask so I’ll just keep pretending. I bet Nia doesn't know my parents' names either.

There’s a color scale that shows how special that given class is and the brighter the specific color the more powerful the class. Just because something is unique however does not make it better than others and vice versa.

The potential is another interesting thing about classes. Even similar ones with the exact same color can give different stats. The reason behind this is that every color works with a given amount of potential. If the skills a class provides are ridiculously good then there’s a high chance that the stats you receive from the same Class at every level may be less stellar.

Your best solution is to work on earning a higher grade Class and not compromise as it's always better to have more potential to work with than not. To be eligible for the good stuff you have to perform better, no matter if it's your actions, mentality, Skill levels, or any other outside influences. Even something as weird as having a white cat.

“Then what about the starting class?” Jappo asks.

“Oh, that. To answer your question we’ll need a broader perspective.” Calen leans back and seemingly gathers his thoughts. “You already know that the words appearing in front of you and the Status Screen are projections of your soul, right?” We nod diligently. “Good, this is just a theory but one I support the most. In the first nine years after your birth, your soul grows alongside you and after your ninth birthday it becomes large enough to house your general skills.” He gesticulates with his hands.

“Space in the soul?” Frans asks.

“Is the soul real?” Jappo ponders.

“Well, according to this thesis, it is. At this point you also unlock your so-called starter class, however, there’s only enough room for your General Skills and the first nine levels are nothing more than a development phase. At the ninth level turning point, you get to choose your first real class and begin your journey in earnest.” He finishes his over-complicated story. “What do you think?”

We stay quiet, the information fighting tooth and nail to carve out its place in our heads.

“Dear, don’t ask such ridiculous things from the children!” Nia Mama, whose name I still don’t know, chimes in. “If only you did as much housework as useless pondering…”